IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v19y2022i16p10075-d888540.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A Survey of the Challenges Faced by Individuals with Disabilities and Unpaid Caregivers during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Author

Listed:
  • Yashoda Sharma

    (KITE Research Institute, Toronto Rehabilitation Institute—University Health Network, Toronto, ON M5G 2A2, Canada)

  • Alison Whiting

    (KITE Research Institute, Toronto Rehabilitation Institute—University Health Network, Toronto, ON M5G 2A2, Canada)

  • Tilak Dutta

    (KITE Research Institute, Toronto Rehabilitation Institute—University Health Network, Toronto, ON M5G 2A2, Canada
    Institute of Biomedical Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5S 3G9, Canada)

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic negatively affected many individuals. In particular, it is likely that individuals with disabilities and unpaid caregivers were disproportionately affected, however, its exact impact is largely unknown. The primary objective of this work was to identify challenges faced by individuals with disabilities and unpaid caregivers. A secondary objective was to identify potential solutions to the major challenges experienced by both populations. Two surveys were administered online to individuals with disabilities and unpaid caregivers, respectively between September 2020 and January 2021. We used an inductive thematic analysis within an interpretivist paradigm to analyze survey responses. A total of 111 survey responses were collected amongst both surveys. Separate thematic maps were created for individuals with disabilities and unpaid caregivers, and maps were drawn to compare challenges. Potential solutions to mitigate the challenges experienced by both populations include revising financial assistance programs and improving awareness of support programs that are available.

Suggested Citation

  • Yashoda Sharma & Alison Whiting & Tilak Dutta, 2022. "A Survey of the Challenges Faced by Individuals with Disabilities and Unpaid Caregivers during the COVID-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(16), pages 1-17, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:16:p:10075-:d:888540
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/16/10075/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/16/10075/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Tiago S. Jesus & Sutanuka Bhattacharjya & Christina Papadimitriou & Yelena Bogdanova & Jacob Bentley & Juan Carlos Arango-Lasprilla & Sureshkumar Kamalakannan & The Refugee Empowerment Task Force, Int, 2021. "Lockdown-Related Disparities Experienced by People with Disabilities during the First Wave of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Scoping Review with Thematic Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(12), pages 1-24, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Afolasade Fakolade & Caitlin Stone & Nicole Bobbette, 2023. "Identifying Research Priorities to Promote the Well-Being of Family Caregivers of Canadians with Intellectual and/or Developmental Disabilities: A Pilot Delphi Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(22), pages 1-15, November.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Mónica Rojas-Chaves & Manuel Lucas-Matheu & Gracia Castro-Luna & Tesifón Parrón-Carreño & Bruno José Nievas-Soriano, 2022. "Validation of a Scale on Society’s Attitudes towards the Sexuality of Women with Intellectual Disabilities—Survey Study," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(20), pages 1-10, October.
    2. Sureshkumar Kamalakannan & Sutanuka Bhattacharjya & Yelena Bogdanova & Christina Papadimitriou & Juan Carlos Arango-Lasprilla & Jacob Bentley & Tiago S. Jesus & Refugee Empowerment Task Force, Interna, 2021. "Health Risks and Consequences of a COVID-19 Infection for People with Disabilities: Scoping Review and Descriptive Thematic Analysis," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(8), pages 1-17, April.
    3. Naomi Hlongwane & Lieketseng Ned & Emma McKinney & Vic McKinney & Leslie Swartz, 2022. "Experiences of Organisations of (or That Serve) Persons with Disabilities during the COVID-19 Pandemic and National Lockdown Period in South Africa," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(19), pages 1-16, October.
    4. Amaya Perez-Brumer & Rebecca Balasa & Aarti Doshi & Jessica Brogdon & Thuy Doan & Catherine E. Oldenburg, 2022. "COVID-19 Related Shifts in Social Interaction, Connection, and Cohesion Impact Psychosocial Health: Longitudinal Qualitative Findings from COVID-19 Treatment Trial Engaged Participants," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(16), pages 1-12, August.
    5. Kang, Tarandeep S. & Goodwin, Robin, 2022. "Legal restrictions and mitigation strategies amongst a disabled population during COVID-19," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 305(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:16:p:10075-:d:888540. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.